London Buses route 87
London Buses route 87 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, United Kingdom. The service is currently contracted to London General. History Route 87 is the renumbering of the former route 77A from 3 June 2006 in order for TfL to remove letter suffixed routes. The original route has a longer history, once being part of route 77 running from Kings Cross to Raynes Park. In October 1956, Monday to Friday morning journeys were extended to Worcester Park, until October 1978. Meanwhile, from 1959 the Sunday service, and from 1965 the Saturday service, was renumbered 77C, running via Westminster Bridge instead of Lambeth Bridge. Until their replacement by Routemasters (RMs) in 1973, a varied mixture of types including RTs, RTLs and STLs had operated the service through allocations involving Merton (AL), Stockwell (SW), Victoria (GM), Walworth (WL), Camberwell (Q) and Chalk Farm (CF) garages. By the time of conversion to Routemaster, the route had settled down to operation shared between just Merton and Stockwell garages. From 28 October 1978, the southerly extension to Worcester Park was cut back to Raynes Park. In April 1981, Saturday and Sunday services were re-introduced, albeit only running to Wandsworth on Sundays. At the same time a Monday to Friday bifurcation was introduced to Putney Heath, replacing the withdrawn section of Route 28, with the rest of the route running to Raynes Park. In April 1983, the Wimbledon to Raynes Park section was withdrawn. From 27 October 1984, the remaining Merton (AL) Garage allocation was withdrawn, leaving Stockwell (SW) Garage as sole operator. This coincided with the withdrawal of Route 77A between Wandsworth and Wimbledon, with Merton Garage now running the replacement Route 156 over this section. In the same year, Route 77A was used to trial the third of three evaluation Volvo Ailsas which featured a Routemaster-style rear entrance, albeit with doors. (London Transport were evaluating several new types at the time, all operating from Stockwell Garage, mainly on Route 170). The Volvo Ailsa trial ended on 3 August 1985 when the route was converted to One Person Operation (OPO) under the third of four major OPO conversion programmes that year. The conversion of Route 77A was one of several deemed controversial at the time for bringing OPO to large-allocation Central London routes. (The Peak Vehicle Requirement of 33 was at the time was the highest in London for an OPO service). On 25 May 1991, the northern section between Kings Cross and Aldwych was withdrawn, replaced by Route 30. The Putney to Wandsworth section was renumbered 77C (now 670). By this time, the route was in the process of gradual conversion from Daimler Fleetline (D/DMS class) to Metrobus (M class) as Stockwell Garage started receiving second-hand Metrobuses from elsewhere. In 2001, the Metrobuses were formally replaced by brand-new Plaxton President (PVL class) vehicles. On 3 June 2006, Route 77A was renumbered 87. It was the last route in London with a suffixed number due to the unavailability of a suitable replacement number. Other numbers are also suggested such as 437. However, the number 87, as used by a long-standing Barking and Romford area service, became available from 25 March 2006 when that route was withdrawn and replaced by an extension of Route 5). The now-available number 87 was then quickly utilized for the renumbering of Route 77A. The night service was also renumbered from N77 to N87 at this time. Upon being re-tendered, the route was retained by London General with a new contract commencing on 1 June 2013 with existing Alexander Dennis Enviro400s and Wright Eclipse Gemini bodied Volvo B7TLs.Tender Round Wins Roll In BusTalk (Go-Ahead London) issue 17 August 2012 Current route Route departing Aldwych * Aldwych for Covent Garden Station * Strand * Charing Cross Station * Trafalgar Square * Whitehall * Parliament Square * Westminster Station * Millbank for Tate Britain * Vauxhall Bridge * Vauxhall Station Bus Station * Wandsworth Road * Wandsworth Station * Lavender Hill * Clapham Junction Station * St John's Hill * Marcilly Road * Wandsworth Common North Side * Huguenot Place * East Hill * Wandsworth High Street * Wandsworth Wandsworth Plain Route departing Wandsworth * Wandsworth Wandsworth Plain * Armoury Way * Fairfield Street * East Hill * Wandsworth Common North Side * St John's Hill * Clapham Junction Station * Lavender Hill * Wandsworth Station * Wandsworth Road * Vauxhall Station Bus Station * Vauxhall Bridge * Milbank for Tate Britain * Parliament Square * Westminster Station * Whitehall * Trafalgar Square * Charing Cross Station * Strand * Aldwych for Covent Garden Station See also * List of bus routes in London * London General * London Buses route N87 External links * London Bus Routes Fotopic * Transport for London * London Bus Routes * Full timetable (PDF) Category:Bus routes in London Category:Transport in Wandsworth Category:Transport in Westminster